[alialkhatib]

I'm not seeing the part explaining how guests are locked in their rooms. Is it that they don't feel they can leave or their belongings will be locked in a room they can no longer access, or is it some literal situation where the doors won't open unless the hotel's key system is restored?

If it's the former, it's more than a little melodramatic to say they're locked in. The situation would be resolved when the hotel paid the ransom (which they'd done twice before). And they don't really even have to leave their things in the hotel room; guests could pack up their belongings and move to another hotel if they really feel like the situation won't be resolved in a timely manner. I assume European laws would guarantee customers a refund (or at least a prorated refund) in a case like this, wouldn't they?

If it's the latter, then what kind of hyper-secure system is this hotel using, and more importantly why?